Being a nurse is one of the most in demand and notably one of the highest paying jobs in the world. That is why a lot of nursing graduates are aiming to work overseas, especially in Saudi Arabia, to earn money for their families.
One of the general requirements to secure a job in Saudi Arabia is to present documents and certificates that you had work experience as a nurse. Although getting a job as a nurse in the Philippines is easy, it also means sacrificing two years worth of working as a nurse can give you lower pay or not receiving any at all.
The Solution of Some Nurses
In order to get some jobs, some Asian nurses allegedly presented counterfeit work experience certificates. Some of these women are unfortunately from the Philippines and from India. Some of these nurses ended up behind bars while some of them were barred from leaving the Kingdom due to pending investigations.
The forgery was discovered by a team of experts from the Ministry of Health during the screening process. Some of these nurses were recruited from leading manpower consultants in Manila to work in primary health centers surrounding Saudi Arabia. Some of them were also employed in private sectors.
Not Only the Nurses’ Faults
These recruits have sufficient qualifications and also have genuine academic qualifications. However, they fabricated their experience certificates with longer than their actual work duration in order to boost hiring prospects.
It also came to light that some of the recruiters submitted the forge certificates without the knowledge of the nurses. According to Saudi Gazette, some fraudulent agents tainted the reputation of well-qualified applicants.
The nurses from India and the Philippines who were found guilty of forging the documents were imprisoned in different prisons in Eastern Province, Riyadh, Qassim, and other regions. At least a dozen nurses from the country were arrested in Jeddah and in other cities of the Makkah province while there were 30 others from the Eastern Province and Riyadh.
Some of these nurses had obtained bank loans to complete their placement and now unable to repay the loan after losing the jobs that they were aiming for in Saudi Arabia.
Safety Measures
Other than the new recruits, some nurses who have been serving in the Kingdom for a long time, even if they have proven track record, are now being asked by the authorities to produce their certificates for the renewal of licenses. However, some of these nurses say that some of the institutions were they graduated from or worked at were either closed or relocated and can make the verification of their credentials slow and difficult.
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